The present invention relates to fishing lures and, in particular, to lure dressings, that are molded from silicone rubber mixtures that include granular pigments that partially dissolve to provide a mottled appearance, such as dressings that imitate prey species and/or multi-stranded elastomer skirts, and that are adaptable to support rattles and other lure accessories.
A dressing commonly mounted to fishing lures, such as jigs, "spinner baits" or "buzz baits", is a multi-stranded skirt. The skirts are typically fabricated from sheets of an elastomer material, such as natural rubber or silicone rubber. Each sheet is processed into a number of regions that define individual skirts and each skirt is defined by a multiplicity of slits or strands that are attached to solid borders that bound the ends of the strands. The skirts are cut from the sheets with the borders attached and the strands are contained by the borders, until the strands are collected and bound together.
Rubber bands and elastomer collars are frequently used to secure the strands together. After banding, the borders are cut from the strands and the skirt is ready to be mounted to a desired lure. Examples of banded skirts can be found at U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,640,041 and 5,251,395. Examples of "rollup" skirts or skirts with elastomer collars are shown at U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,517,782 and 5,709,047.
Rollup skirts are formed by rolling and bonding the border of a skirt to a tubular, elastomer core piece with an appropriate adhesive. Once bonded, the border is cutaway and the cut ends of the strands trail from the core piece. The core piece and wrapped skirt stretch when the skirt is mounted to a lure.
Most lures that use skirts include a molded lead head. Spinner baits also include a formed wire that protrudes from the head or body and support one or more metal blades that spin and vibrate as the lure is retrieved. A fishing line is attached to the wire or an eye of a hook that protrudes from the head or body. As the lures are retrieved, the strands of the skirt undulate with movement of the lure through water to entice a prey species of fish to strike.
Trailer dressings can be added to the hooks at the lures to increase the bulk of the presented offering. A trailer can also be added to customize a desired color scheme at the lure.
Most typically, one or more finished skirts and/or a single trailer are threaded over supporting appendages at the lure or the hook. The skirts and trailer can have the same or different colors. The skirt color is normally determined by colored pigments that disperse evenly through the rubber mixture and define a continuous hued color. Each dressing, especially silicone rubber dressings exhibit a single color. Occasionally, multiple colors are combined by aligning strips of the rubber together before curing. Metal flakes or glitters are occasionally added to the mixtures to accentuate the color.
Normal silicone rubber processing techniques do not accommodate fabricating dressings that exhibit multiple hues. Consequently, the aforementioned need to secure multiple dressings to a single lure to obtain a desired color combination.
The silicone rubber skirts and trailers of the present invention were developed to provide dressings that exhibit multi-hued, mottled coloration's. The dressings particularly exhibit mottled, natural or earthen coloration's. Splotches of dark, partially dissolved pigment granules are suspended in the dressing and contrast to the primary color. Trailer dressings having similar color schemes are also disclosed. The trailers include shaped cavities that support rattles and/or plug-in, attachment pieces that separately support one or more rattles and/or multi-stranded skirts.